Disappointment in dressage for San Diego’s Peters

San Diego’s Steffen Peters tried to milk one last major competition out of Ravel, a 14-year-old gelding who ranks among the great dressage horses in U.S. history.

It was one too many. Peters and Ravel finished a disappointing 17th in an individual dressage competition many figured they would contend for.

“That is it for Ravel,” said Peters, 47, a three-time Olympian who won a team bronze in 1996.

“He is retiring now to his owners’ stud in California. I will remember him for his great career. If you put it all together, today was only a glitch. He has given us so much and it is so sad but it was not quite happening today.”

Ravel is owned by Akiko Yamazaki, the wife of Yahoo founder Jerry Yang. Peters met her at a riding clinic he taught in Northern California, and Yamazaki sponsored him for both the 2008 and 2012 Games.

“(Owning) a racehorse is a lot more of a business,” Peters said this spring.

“In dressage, it’s more for the love of the horse and a passion.”

Ravel’s retirement doesn’t mean Peters will follow him.

He already has a rising star in 10-year-old Legolas to replace him.

TODAY

The women’s 1,500 meters is the oldest Olympic track event in which the United States has never medaled.

It was added in 1972, and the best finish is Shannon Rowbury’s seventh in 2008.

The drought could end today, when San Diego resident Morgan Uceny and Rowbury both go in a loaded final.

The 5-foot-6 Uceny is from Plymouth, Ind., and actually quit cross country in high school so she could focus on basketball.

“I ended up not being a very good basketball player,” she said.

“I went to Cornell (to run track), where I drank too much my freshman year and gained 10 pounds and didn’t get a varsity letter. I knew I could do better than that. I came back the next year and ran for myself. It’s been different ever since.”

She moved to San Diego in 2009 and spends part of the year training at altitude in Mammoth Lakes.

Last year she was ranked No. 1 in the world — the first time an American woman has held that distinction in the 1,500 since Mary Slaney in 1983 — but crashed in the final at World Championships.

She won the U.S. Trials and looked good in the prelims and semifinals here, as has Rowbury. Could this finally be the year?